Greetings from the Floor,
Last week was another busy week at the Capitol with committees meeting and floor sessions becoming more frequent. On Thursday, the House passed a 26 week extension of unemployment benefits for Iron Range workers and an Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust Fund tax cut for employers around the state. The two matters were passed as separate bills in the Senate and sent to the House, where we also passed the two measures as separate bills. I’m very pleased that we were able to send these bills to the governor and provide relief for families and business in Minnesota. We can now move on to other issues we need to address this session such as REAL ID, the Tax Bill and Capital Investment projects.
On Wednesday, Fire Chief Dyson, staff from the City of Moorhead and I gave a presentation on the grade separation project at the 20/21 Street location in Moorhead. The presentation was part of an overview by the Dept. of Transportation on the three grade separation projects included in Gov. Dayton’s Capital Investment proposal. The other two projects are in Coon Rapids and Red Wing. The three projects total $69.6 million, with $42.3 million for the Moorhead project. Much of the reason the Moorhead project is more costly is because of the nature and complexity of the existing infrastructure at the project site. We spent our time talking about this fact, as there is a diagonal intersection of roads and two sets of tracks we’d have to work around. Fire Chief Dyson also spoke to the public safety concerns of he and his crew in responding to emergencies as quickly as possible, and the difficulties train traffic through the city present. The city put together a very nice video simulation of the project to display how cars and trains move through the intersection now, and what the intersection would look like after project completion.
I introduced two bills last week to provide funding for Lakes and Prairies’ new facility and early childhood learning center. The bills are both $5 million requests; however, one bill is for Capital Investment dollars whereas the other looks to funding from the Dept. of Employment and Economic Development. I know Lakes and Prairies will be doing extensive fundraising for the project, while a grant program is also available through the Dept. of Human Services for early childhood facilities.
The Legislature reconvenes tomorrow after a long Easter weekend. I’m looking forward to the final weeks of committee work and more time spent on the House floor advancing priorities for the session. It has already been three quick weeks of intensive activity. The final seven weeks are sure to be busy as ever.
Thank You for the Opportunity to Serve,
Ben